Despite a quick start with Amar Stukes’ game-leading 26 points, the La Salle Explorers faded late and were unable to get past the Archbishop Carroll Patriots, taking a loss at home 65-52.

On a special Sunday afternoon home game, La Salle honored its senior members of the basketball program. Among them was the game’s highlight, Amar Stukes.

Partway through the second quarter, Stukes scored his 1000th point, becoming a part of an elite club of Explorers.

“It’s a great achievement,” a humble Stukes said about the milestone. “I couldn’t have done it without the help of my team and my coaches. I thank them for everything.”

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“I’m tremendously proud of him,” La Salle coach Joe Dempsey said after the game. “He’s an all-time great player here. I couldn’t be prouder.”

Dempsey continued to praise Stukes’ team-first mentality, saying “(He’s) very unselfish. He has a ton of assists. It’s not like he’s a shooting machine.”

Unfortunately for the Explorers, Stukes’ 26 could not propel his team to a victory, as the rest of the team struggled to do much on offense. Pat Cooney’s nine were the most that any of the rest of the Explorers was able to muster.

Outside of Stukes, La Salle shot only 31 percent from the field.

The lack of diversity on offense was a focus of Dempsey’s after the game.

“He’s really our only playmaker,” he said, in reference to Stukes. “It’s frustrating. (The offense) becomes predictable and (success) becomes difficult to sustain. The other team knows to ‘let (Stukes) do his thing and hold in the other guys.’”

La Salle led 12-11 after the first and went into the half down by only four points. Archbishop Carroll used the second half to pull away, turning on the offensive jets on their way to scoring 40 points in the half.

Patriot coach Paul Romanczuk said that his team was prepared for La Salle to be on their heels after the game.

“La Salle’s a very good team,” he said. “It’s not like we were going to jump on them and run away with it. Our guys did a good job of staying with the game plan and executing. Our guys did a good job of getting to the rim and being aggressive.”

Yacob’s play was another focus of Romanczuk’s after the game. He said, “I can’t say enough about our senior leadership with a guy like Yosef. He’s one of the best players in the league.”

“I’m glad to see that we did a good job on everyone but Stukes,” he said, about his team’s defense. “I would have liked to have seen us hold him down, but he’s such a good player. We knew he was going to get his.”

Romanczuk also stressed how important today’s win in a playoff-type atmosphere was for his team heading into next weekend’s playoffs, saying, “It’s important for our confidence to have this type of game against this type of opponent, because that’s all we’re going to see going forward.”

The Patriots play Archbishop Ryan at home on Friday.

La Salle also plays on Friday, at St. Joseph’s Prep. Dempsey spoke post-game about what his team is going to do to bounce back heading into that matchup.

“They’re kids. Hopefully they have short memories,” he said. “We competed with (St. Joe’s) and hopefully we’ll compete with them Friday. We’ll come up with a game plan and try to get ready for them.”